Contest expands entries

Local writers can now enter a regional fiction contest since it has expanded its boundaries for 2007 to include Princeton.

The ninth annual Okanagan Valley Short Fiction Contest is now open to anyone living in the B.C. southern interior, within the listening area of CBC Radio One in Kelowna.

All residents west of the Alberta border, south of Williams Lake, east of Hope and north of the United States border are welcome to submit their short stories (1,000 to 4,000 words) by Mar. 16.

The entry fee is $12. All entries must be original, unpublished works of fiction, submitted on 8.5-inch by 11-inch plain white paper, typed double-spaced. There is no limit to the number of entries but the entry fee must be paid with each.

Cash prizes are awarded for the best adult short fiction--$500 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. Judges are creative writers teaching at Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan.

“Winners of the Okanagan Short Fiction Contest receive more than just a cash prize,” says Nancy Holmes, a UBC Okanagan creative writing professor and one of the contest organizers. “They gain exposure as a writer in B.C., participate in a public reading, have their story published in a limited-edition chapbook and have excerpts broadcast on CBC radio. The quality of winning stories is very high.”

Winners will be announced by May 2007.

Mail entries with a $12 cheque to:

Okanagan Short Fiction Contest

c/o Creative Studies Secretary

Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies

UBC Okanagan

3333 University Way

Kelowna, B.C.

V1V 1V7

For more information, contact Nancy Holmes at (250) 807-9369.

Complete contest rules are online at www.okstorycontest.org.

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